There's a Saying about Regretting what we didn't do . . .

Mark Twain:  “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails."

Okay, I really meant to chronicle every day of our road trip in real time -- and I managed to write one entry, about the end of our first day.  Well, we were sooooooo busy and were having soooooo much fun that I completely forgot to write each day.

Suffice it to say that our road trip was fun, entertaining, very educational, very memorable (in a good way), great bonding time, and very, very tiring.  I drove between 2500 and 3000 miles in 12 days (don't do that!) 

Over the next few days, I'll describe the trip just in case someone else is considering doing something similar and wants to learn from my experiences.

Between main destinations, we stayed in motels -- not fun but expedient.

Our first main destination:  We went to Arches National Park and saw all the requisite arches and hiked all the requisite trails and had a good time.  But it was way, way too hot, too sunny, and too crowded!  The first day, in fact, we had to wait in a car-line for nearly an hour just to enter the park.  Fortunately for us, all the campsites in the park were filled, so we found a beautiful site just beside the Colorado River on BLM land just adjacent to the park.  The sites were very large, mostly treed, with very clean pit toilets.  No water, though.  The campground ran through the Colorado River Canyon, just alongside the Colorado River.  We had beautiful red canyon walls hovering over us from both sides of the river.  One evening, we got to watch around 8 bighorn sheep somehow scampering on what appeared to be pretty much sheer cliffs.  It was quite a sight.

I have very few regrets from this trip.  Here's the main one:  We were tired and didn't visit Aspen,  Independence Pass, Twin Lakes, and St Elmo, all old favorites of mine.  I regret that very much -- but there are always other trips to be taken.

Something Different: My granddaughter's and my annual road trip!!

Just the two of us, we go on an adventure every year, and we're off already on our road trip to various parts of Utah and Colorado this year.  We're taking our time and wandering as we wish. 

We started Saturday morning in our home town of Ellensburg, WA, and drove to Ontario, OR, where we stayed the night.  On the way to Ontario, we took a side-trip into the little town of Baker City somewhere in Eastern Oregon.  It's a little town with a feel of what I would call a perfect "Small Town" of America, complete with some fun shops in a well-defined downtown, with a true "Main Street," of course, and a wonderful large center-of-town park, where there is a large playground for children, a bandstand for I presume great summer concerts for the whole town, and even a cute gazebo for whatever people do in gazebos -- get out of the rain?

Today, we drove only 50 miles to the city of Boise, where we went a bit out of the way to a great "World Center for Birds of Prey."  It is not only a serious research center but a center for the conservation and rehabilitation of birds of prey.  Further, it's the home of the Peregrine Falcon Fund, which protects, educates, and conserves peregrine falcons world-wide.  At the end of the over two-hours-stay, Elena has decided that she's going to become a scientist dedicated to these beautiful animals.  I would highly recommend that anyone with children around 8 and up swing by if you are passing through the area.  It's well worth the drive.

More tomorrow!

Still Alive, Just Busy

A fun dog sculpture I finished recently.  S/he stands around a foot tall and is around 15 inches long.

I've also been doing a little more painting lately and will be posting some paintings soon.

I'm only selling my ceramic animal sculptures to galleries these days, but I'll be creating a list of galleries where my work can be purchased in the near future.  Paintings and prints continue to be sold retail, though.

I went through a pretty serious health issue from around mid summer last year until late spring this year but am doing fine now.  It was tough, but it's over now, and I'm back and strong again.

Still Making my Ceramic Works

Here's a large dog mask with a tennis ball in its mouth. 

My daughter, Lara, has joined me now, and we are both creating the ceramic pieces together. 

We're making more large pieces, including some really great sculptures that will be available soon.